I had a 820 score, and then when I was out of town for a few months, my ex-wife filed a lawsuit that went into collections (it all happened without me even knowing - the mail was never delivered, they surely "served" me in a way that made sure I couldn't reply). By the time I figured out what happened, the credit reporting agency had put a debt on my profile that was "delinquent". My bank (with whom I have a seven figure account) recently rejected a small line of credit backed by my liquid assets for the reason that I had not paid this delinquent account. I now present to you the aforementioned delinquent account (note that these days are off for some reason): I'm glad I make lots of money, I couldn't deal with this credit score thing. I ended up borrowing the money from myself and I am working on moving out of this bank.
When moved in 2013, I applied for a home equity from 3 banks. My score dropped to 760 from the requests, The other item that lowers your score is a high balance on your Credit cards. I find it helps to send in money after the purchase to keep the outstanding balance low. I do that when every I buy anything over a set amount.
When I signed up for cable, the punks ran a credit check without my authorization. I told them I would sue them (someone had recently won a $40K judgement, I referenced it in my emails) and like magic, it was removed. I absolutely do not want this kind of system to be MORE prevalent. All it does is create nice little robots which are beneficial for the government and not society as a whole.
You can block your credit which requires releasing it before any credit check. I have a number of PM clients and futures clients that needed to do that to open an account. Both require a credit check. Those types of checks do not normally change your credit because there is no loan associated with it.
I get it... Low interest rate and subject to change without notice. Bragging rights for being a slave to debt? LOL. Whatever floats that new boat!
841 right now. I only have two credit cards one of which is a "Lowes card" that I used once to get 15% off a new lawn tractor. I use the other card for rewards (paid off monthly) and I have a small Heloc that I use once in a while to avoid yearly fees. I think what got me to 841 was a recent vehicle purchase. I was able to get 4500 off if I financed with Ford motor credit. I paid it off a few months into the loan. I don't care much about a "perfect" credit score but sometimes using credit (briefly) is advantageous.